Lucian's apprentice
by littleclevercat
Summary: The Emperor of Mankind and Lucian of Samosata are having a chat.


The sun was descending to the west, and hundreds of tents of Salah ad-Din's army looked like a mirage in the day's haze heat.

\- So now what? Are the Crusaders going to surrender the town?

\- They blame the weather and circumstances. But Yusuf ibn Ayyub is merciful enough not to make a massacre out of this. Do you want to see how the city will fall, Lucian?

The man named Lucian made a wry face and shielded his eyes from hot wind with hand.

\- This is a rather remarkable event, in my opinion. – Despite sweating unmercifully with heat, Lucian was wrapping warm thick caftan around himself. This was the only way to prevent dehydration. – But I am ready to admit that those scrolls procured from Tuaregs capture me just as much. I am rather partial to the Numidian script.

\- Oh, Lucian, the times will come when the descendants of ancient Libyans will not be able to decipher these records, in spite of the fact that Tifinagh descended from the Ancient Lybian script. – Lucian's companion seemed to feel well in his black burnous, taking no heed of scorching heat.

\- I have always marvelled how far you can dip into the future. And to think that I disbelieved your every word at first!

\- You have a quick wit, Lucian. You are inquisitive and have a habit to scrutinize closely at the very essence of things.

\- This is why you still sustain my wretched existence? I am old if you get my meaning. Sometimes I think that it would be better to surrender the immortality and be at rest from toil, but every time you come up with a new riddle wrapped up in an enigma, and this damned curiosity, so much-loved by you, makes me carry on.

\- You think I have not only arranged the seizure of Jerusalem by Salah ad-Din but also did it entirely for your own entertainment.

\- No! Nothing can be further from my mind.

Hot wind spiced with sand irritated horses, and the smell of equine sweat irritated Lucian; he has got used to this smell over the years but has not learnt to like it. Former writer. Former satirist and vagrant rhetor. Forty years he had threaded the ground, just to abandon rhetoric and devote himself to philosophy after arriving in one of the provinces of Egypt. That was not to say that heat was something of a novelty to Lucian, but today's heat haze was something special. The philosopher has never really managed to explain what this uniqueness was, but in grains of sand jumbled under gusts of the wind Lucian was seeing something more, something meaningful.

\- And thus, one culture replaces another. – Lucian looked at the sky, just to assure himself in its purity. – Like a wind that is driving sand. It changes the landscape, and dunes crawl slowly through the desert, leaving no guide to wayfarers.

\- What you see is not a change of cultures. – Lucian's companion brushed his black steed's neck. His face was hidden under a hood, but his voice, deep and strikingly nice timbered, gave Lucian a shiver. – This is a stepping-stone for oncoming great conflict. I have already told Salah ad-Din about this and will repeat especially for you… There will be no peace in the land of the prophet.

\- That is a cheerless prospect.

\- Therein lies my purpose, Lucian. I must teach the mankind to live in a world undivided by prejudices and religious discord. But first, I must learn much from men, before starting to teach them.

\- I have taught you too, - said the philosopher proudly.

\- And you were an excellent teacher. Especially when you did not forget to deacon wine.

\- It happened just a couple of times… But tell me, what is he like?

\- Salah ad-Din? He is a true knight.

\- Without a doubt, his thoughts are not a secret for you.

Lucian smiled. He was long used to what others would call a miracle, a magic. His former pupil who then attended his lessons under the name ( a false one, as it emerged later) of Alexis from Syracuse, has possessed abilities, limits of which the philosopher has never fully comprehended. Lucian had been working at "The Double Indictment" at that time and did not have plans to take any pupils. As it turned out, Alexis from Syracuse was not just an admirer of his satires. The enigmatic apprentice has told and shown Lucian many miracles and visions of the far future. The philosopher could not refrain from using such amazing gift, despite having a lot of trouble believing in what happened at first.

Lucian had had a critical approach to everything, pouring ridicule on both systems of philosophy and religious orthodoxy. Perhaps, this was the reason why mysterious Alexis had taken him along to the longest travel Lucian had ever been in, a travel to which even death was not an obstacle.

\- And yet, would Lucian like to see how the Crusaders will break open the gates of Jerusalem?

Lucian was thoughtful for a while. The sun was almost down and the heat was slackening. An agile scorpion peered from a crack in the ground and run away in an instant. Karasu, the black steed of Lucian's former pupil, snorted and gave a kick.

\- What a bolter. – The philosopher mopped his brow with a tip of white wrap tied on his head.- I liked the former horse better.

\- Are you trying my patience?

\- I am just pondering. My world was so small before I met you, and things that then seemed important to my mind had turned out to be petty woes, not worthy of remembering. In spite of the fact that you have taught me this, I am hopeless when it comes to singling out of a chain of events which will have an impact on the mankind. I suppose this is why it is more important to me to continue our journey. Towns and fortresses are stormed on an annoyingly regular basis, but there are so many new things await us in the future… I am, essentially, a simple man. And simple people live for the day, rarely musing on the future.

\- I think there are still things I could learn from you.


End file.
